Eyes Of Truth
by Mushra
Summary: Shinzo Fan Fic


Eyes of Truth, Awaken  
  
Violence, blood, heat. All were part of Mushra's life, and had been for many years.  
But now, he had a reason to fight, a reason to bleed, a reason to burn.   
His staff cracked into the reptile's solar plexus, sending the snake reeling. Hate flashed in the eyes of his yellow-skinned opponent as the snake rushed him again, his short sword held low. Mushra smiled grimly and easily vaulted right over his sword, and made a stab for the snake's back. The reptile moved quickly, spinning around and slicing Mushra's arm from shoulder to elbow. Mushra winced.  
"You'll pay for that!" He cried, as with a great lunge, he buried his spear deep into the snake's chest.  
To Mushra's shock, the snake laughed, even as his body began to dissipate.  
"You haven't won, little Enterren…" His voice was a dusty hiss, "Poison…blade…"  
Mushra cried out suddenly and pain blossomed right through his arm, burning, paralysing…poisoning.  
  
Yakumo rushed out of her hiding place when she saw the reptile carded. She gasped and forced back the tears that stung her eyes as Mushra collapsed to his knees in front of her. She gasped when she saw the ugly, jagged wound that went across his right arm and up under the orange shoulder plate of his armour.  
"Mushra!" She cried. She sank down next to him, briefly cradling his prone form as she looked around the barren desert landscape for somewhere safe for them to hide. There were reptile Enterrens roaming all over this area, and if they caught her alone, without Mushra, Sago or Kutal to protect her, she was a goner. If only they hadn't got separated from Sago and Kutal! Yakumo sighed and shaded her eyes with one hand, eventually she spied a large rock overhang at the base of a small cliff where it appeared part of the face had given way. It would make a good hiding place, safe from the vicious reptiles…and from the merciless sun. She looked down at her Enterren protector as she considered how best to move him, and noted with some worry the beads of sweat that were beginning to form on his face. She took him under the armpits, hoping that he wouldn't prove heavy. At least he wasn't in hyper form, but it was still heavy, laborious work in the blistering desert heat.   
By the time they reached the shade of the overhang, Yakumo was already deeply worried about Mushra. His face had lost a lot of its colour, and sweat trickled down his face almost constantly. That wasn't natural at all. A human would suffer from sunstroke or heat exhaustion. But Mushra was a fire Enterren; the heat shouldn't affect him!  
Yakumo frowned worriedly as she cleaned and bandaged Mushra's wound the best she could, washing it with small amounts of her precious water supply.  
"That won't do much good." Mushra croaked as his eyes began to flutter open.   
"Mushra!" She cried happily when she saw he was awake, but then she saw the fever brightness in his eyes, and heard the weakness of his voice, "What's wrong?" She asked.  
"That snake I carded… managed to get me with a… poison blade attack." Mushra said simply, "If I… can't find the antidote…" He trailed off.  
Yakumo recoiled in shock, her eyes wide with horror.  
"Mushra no! Don't say that! I can't loose you!"   
"Then we'll…have to wait…for Sago and Kutal…to find us." He said, but there was little hope in his eyes. Yakumo stared at him, trembling. Words failed her as she reached out one gentle hand to touch his face.   
Mushra sighed, her hand felt nice and cool against his overheated skin. He closed his eyes with a sigh…he felt so tired…  
"Mushra!" Yakumo's voice yanked him away from the warm oblivion of sleep.   
"What…?" Mushra mumbled.  
"You have to stay awake, Mushra. Talk to me."  
"Don't know…what to talk about." He said, his voice growing ever weaker. Yakumo's blue eyes flickered with fear.  
"About…anything. Tell me…tell me what it's like to hyper form." Yakumo said desperately, searching for something - for anything - that would keep him conscious. Mushra stared at her curiously for a second, and then his eyes took on a distant look, as though he was looking inward.  
"It's like…there's a fire burning inside me, and when I hyper form…that fire reaches out - burns brighter and stronger until it fills my entire body." He looked at her with wonder in his gaze, "There's nothing like it, nothing that even comes close…" his voice dropped to a near whisper "And all that power…it's all for you." The fever brightness in his eyes seemed to dim slightly and he sank wearily into a restless doze.  
"Mushra!" She called, but he wouldn't awaken. Yakumo's hands twisted together as worry formed a cold knot in her stomach, even as she wondered what he had meant by the last thing he said.  
  
He drifted. Floating through clouds, cool breaths of air across his skin. He felt warm, and comfortable. There was no pain here, no need for fighting or violence…no need to do anything…and he was so tired…he just wanted to rest.  
But from somewhere he could hear a voice calling him. A female voice, light and clear as the song of a bird. But it was all so far away; he didn't have the strength to go on…  
"Mushra…you must not give up." A different voice now said. This new voice was deep and powerful, with an odd kind of resonance to it that made it sound somehow familiar.  
"Mushra…you are the key to the survival of Enterra, you must not give in to the darkness." Mushra forced his eyes open and looked into the encroaching shadows. He caught a glimpse of red/gold armour and violet hair.  
"Mushrambo?" He questioned. His only answer was a low chuckle.  
"I am a part of you, Mushra, never forget that. We still have a destiny to fulfil."   
The ghostly image of Mushrambo began to fade away into the purple-tinged shadows.  
"No! Don't go!" Mushra called, but it was too late.  
Mushra bowed his head as the legendary samurai disappeared. No one else knew of the secret he kept buried here, in the private place inside his mind. This was what he simply couldn't make Sago or Kutal understand - Mushra wanted to stay as Mushrambo.   
He knew Sago and Kutal were awed and even a little frightened by the power that their combined self wielded, but Mushra had been exhilarated by it. For as long as he had been able to remember, there had been an empty place inside if him, a cold aching space that had finally been filled by Mushrambo.  
And then there was the way that Yakumo had looked at him when he had been Mushrambo…  
"Mushra…" That soft voice called to him again, stronger this time.  
"Yakumo!" He cried as memory returned and he began to struggle back towards the light.  
  
Mushra woke with an unpleasant start to find himself lying on cool stone instead of on warm blankets. Memories rushed back to him, and with them came the pain. He stifled a cry as agony shot down his wounded arm. Through fever-blurred eyes, he saw Yakumo crouching at the entrance of their little shelter, her stance wary and fearful.   
"They're coming." She whispered.   
Then he heard it too, the hissing whispers of the reptiles as they closed in on their hiding place.  
"Yakumo." He croaked.  
"Yes, Mushra?" She said, coming over to kneel beside him. Her eyes were afraid, but he forced himself to say what he had to.   
"If…if I'm carded and then they find us…I want you…I want you to cut my card." He said seriously.  
"No! I won't do it!" She cried. Tears began to well up in her compassionate blue eyes, but he sized her arm and squeezed it.  
"I can't let them…use my power to…hurt you, Yakumo." He struggled, "I want you to promise…if it comes to it…you gotta take my staff…and cut my card."  
"Mushra…" Tears were spilling freely down her face now.  
"Promise me…" He repeated with all the force he could muster. Yakumo bowed her head, hiding her eyes.  
"I… promise." She wept. He nodded wearily and sank back onto the dusty stone, his ice-blue eyes shadowed with pain and fever.   
"Mushra…" She whispered, tears spilling freely down her cheeks. Her Enterren protector reached out with one sweat-slicked hand to wipe away her tears.   
Yakumo suddenly froze as she heard heavy footsteps coming from right outside. There was a soft hissing noise, then a silbant voice came from the entrance.  
"Come on out human. You cannot hide forever!" A tall, green skinned reptile stalked in with a brutal looking broadsword held in one sinewy hand. He looked down at Mushra, his jade-coloured eyes almost glowing in the dim light of the cave.   
"No!" Mushra cried weakly, but the reptile just laughed and raised his sword. Yakumo seized Mushra's staff in her hands and jumped in front of the reptile.  
"You won't take him!" She cried, awkwardly raising the staff. The reptile laughed again.   
"Well, well. The last living human makes an appearance. The boss will pay a lot of money for you, I'm sure." Before Yakumo could move, his left arm shot out in an open-handed punch, setting Yakumo crashing into the cave wall, and the gold staff skittering towards where Mushra lay.  
"Now, hold still, human, this will only take a second…" The reptile raised his sword for a killing strike, but before he could deliver it, a whirring, spinning blade came out of nowhere to shatter the huge sword into fragments.   
"Sago!" Yakumo cried in relief.  
Sago and Kutal stood in the entrance way in hyper form. Both of them wore the grim expressions of someone who was severely displeased.   
"Leave Yakumo alone!" Sago yelled, even as he deftly caught his curved blade out of the air.  
"You can't stop me!" The reptile yelled, and raised his clawed hand up as if to rip at Yakumo's delicate face. Sago and Kutal dashed forward to help, but before they could make a single step, a gold staff suddenly sprouted from between the reptile's shoulder blades. There was a single instant of complete silence, and then there was simply a spinning EnCard hanging in mid air.   
"Mushra!" Kutal said as he saw the young Enterren was still laying on the floor with one arm outstretched from throwing the staff. His face was deathly pale, tinged slightly with that fatal grey.  
"Yakumo…" Mushra gasped as he topped to the floor, his strength exhausted. Yakumo bolted to his side, cradling his head in her arms. He looked up at her, his pale eyes strangely wistful.  
"Yakumo…" He breathed in a voice only she could hear, "I…love you." Then his eyes fluttered closed.  
"No!" Yakumo cried.  
"He's still breathing…barely." Sago reassured her.   
"We have to get him to a Doctor - quickly!" She said.  
"I know a place…" Kutal said.  
  
Mushra had no idea how much later it was when he finally managed to pry open his eyelids. He was lying on a soft bed in a tiny room. The furnishings were mostly made of dark-stained wood, giving it a homey sort of appearance. As his vision cleared he saw an unfamiliar figure sat on a chair beside him, he also saw Yakumo at the end of the bed, and Sago stood guarding the door.  
"Welcome back." The unfamiliar Enterren said quietly. She was a feline like Kutal, but slender and willowy. Her fur was a striped like a tabby cat, and she wore a while lab coat.   
"Who are you?" Mushra asked, his voice sounding weak and croaky. The feline smiled at him warmly.  
"Doctor Jaada here saved your life, Mushra." Yakumo said. Jaada nodded solemnly.  
"I counteracted the poison and brought your fever down, but I suggest you stay in bed for another day, and avoid using that arm for at least a week."   
"Thank you Doctor." Yakumo said greatfully. Jaada smiled.  
"I'll be downstairs if you need me." She said, and withdrew quietly.   
As the door closed, he heard Kutal's voice, it sounded unusually strained.   
"Jaada! I…um…that is…"  
"Kutal, what a surprise. It's been a long time."  
"Yes, it has…" Kutal said awkwardly.  
"You never write…you never call…"  
Mushra chuckled to himself.  
"Looks like Kutal is having a bit of lady trouble."   
There was a pregnant pause as a sudden troubled thought occurred to Mushra.  
"Yakumo…what I said what I said before I passed out back there…what I meant was…"  
"I know what you meant." Yakumo replied serenely.  
"You do?" Mushra said, shocked.  
"Of course, and I wanted to tell you that I love you too."  
"R…really?" Mushra stuttered, as a welter of confused emotion welled up in his heart.  
"Of course," She said matter-of-factly, "You're one of my best friends, why wouldn't I love you?" She smiled at him then, that warm smile that could melt anyone's heart.   
"Oh…" Mushra mumbled vaguely, as he desperately tried to reign in his galloping emotions, "Thanks…Yakumo." He even managed a smile when he said it.   
"I'll let you sleep now." She said, tucking the sheets around his shoulders. She left quietly, closing the door behind her.  
Mushra desperately fought back tears of disapointment. He should have known she would never feel that way for him. In her eyes he was too young, too cocky. The empty place inside of his ached, yearning to be filled by Mushrambo's power and cool confidence…and to be filled by Yakumo's love.  
"One day…" He whispered.   
  
//Yeah, I'd die for you,  
You know it's true, Everything I do,  
I do it for you.// 


End file.
